Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

paying attention

I started my journey on the medication roller coaster a year ago on Aug. 6th. I have yet to find a combination that my Dr. and I are happy with. I see him this Thursday. He wants to discuss quitting the Enbrel, Plaquenil, and Mobic that I'm currently taking, (I have also tried Methotrexate and Sulfasalazine), and try a completely new cocktail. Not sure what he has in mind.......I'll find out Thursday.

In addition to trying to get my RA under control with all these major meds I have found out I am POST menopausal (I just turned 40 a week ago. My gyno feels it's due to the RA. and I agree....... but that's a different story..), I'm also recently diagnosed with adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism (just started Nature-Throid last Tuesday)

Prior to the RA running me into the ground last year I never gave much thought to how I was feeling. I just soldiered on. I didn't like to take medicines of any kind (no aspirin or cold medicines,....nothing.. My career was my #1 priority and I was happy. Now I'm engaged in a seemingly endless experimentation with a large combination of drugs for several different issues...... It's all been a shock to the system.

My question to you all ,is this:
After the Mac Truck hit last year, and after all the meds, and hormone imbalances..that continue to not-get-better..I can't help but feel I've become too focused on how I feel all the time and wondering when I'll feel better, or if I'll feel better. How to I pay attention to my body and help it get better without becoming completely consumed with the task?

That's a great question, and if you figure it out........let me know!! I find myself bouncing between obsessing about the RA or not focusing enough on it and not taking care of myself as well as I should. I would love to find a balance.....maybe that will come with time. Although I am 4 years into this! I also am in surgical menopause &amp; they have never really gotten the meds right. (How do you replace what you body did naturally??) And that can throw you some funky side effects too. Boy what a mess we all are!! But we are all together on here, helping each other!! *hugs*

I know exactly how you feel. I was there 6 month ago. I am post meno at 52. I finally got on Bio-identical Hormones. The ones Dr. Phils Wife and Oprah recommended. That was the best decision i have ever made. Then RA hit me and all the confusion of what to take. Do I take the herbs and Vitamins or the poison?Well I have tried everything under the sun and decided to take the plunge and go with the poison. I call it God send now. I have had pain beyond believe, and at times thought I wanted to die.
I found this site and the support was unbelievable. The people here knew what I was going through when no one else did. They have tought me to be strong and that life will get better with time and the right medicine. They were right of course. I have found Mtx and it has helped me so far to get back to my old self again. I do everything I did before I got RA. Yes there are times when I still have some pain, but nothing like before. Will I be cured? I doubt it, not until they find a drug that will cure this disease. I am thankful, for everyday that I can get up in the morning and thank God for another good Day. What will my Future be? I have no Idea, No one knows. I leave it up to God and I have finally learned not to let Ra control me, but to be in control of RA. When you think about it all the time it has a hold of you and it wins, so you just say to yourself, I am fine and it will get better. Do the self talk every day and every day you will get better. We are all here to help you get trough it.
hugs and hang in there, bigi

I know just what you are talking about and I struggle with going to extremes in both directions. I just get tired of keeping up with it all sometimes and ignore new symptoms for a while. That never works out well, because I end up with bigger problems. It is a very difficult balancing act for sure.

I know just what you are talking about. I was on the roller coaster eight years before my RA quieted down.

What's wonderful about this site is that everyone has had a different, but similar, experience. We all struggle with our medications and get the right cocktail of them and we all struggle with the combination of work, home, and RA.

Welcome to the crew !
The mind plays games with the body and the body with the mind
I have found that meditation and similar focusing type exercise helps me deal better. But then again so does yelling and screaming at no one in particular. You will find your balance when your body lets you.
Hang in there
Patty

For me RA is completely consuming. There isn't any time of the day that I forget even for one second. It colors my whole world. I guess I am lucky that I no longer work in the corporate world and have to worry about keeping up. When I worked, I was a workaholic - the night cleaning crew knew my name and when I called for a cab, my favorite driver would drop everything and come to pick me up - in a city as big as Chicago that's some feat, lol.

I don't dwell on my illness but it is pretty hard to forget because it's in my face every minute. If I move my body in any direction it hurts. I'm limited in almost everything I do because of the pain and stiffness. I haven't taken the time to feel sorry for myself or rail against the fact that I'm not finishing my Master's degree because of the RA. I try to keep a positive attitude about it all and laugh at myself and the world as often as I can - I love to laugh and it's that that saves me from the pits of despair.

I was diagnosed 3 years ago and I don't have the perfect mix of meds to control my RA, the drugs have worked it's just that changing circumstances have caused me to have to change meds. I recently stopped taking prednisone for a surgical procedure and decided not to go back on it - I also take Humira weekly. I used to take MTX but my liver enzymes went way up.

I really thought (hoped) that the Humira would be enough by itself, well guess who was wrong! Everyday something new starts to hurt, man that sucks! So I guess I'm gonna have to drag myself to my rheumy and hopefully get something other than prednisone to fill the gap. In the meantime I can't believe how much my knees and hips hurt. Oh and lest I forget I am also in surgical menopause...oh the joys of womanhood! lol

Good luck on finding the answers to your questions and please share them with us, we can use all the help we can get! Hugs jilly

I think we're all going to focus more closely on this stuff when we're not feeling well. And why wouldn't you? I think the focus is on the same sliding scale as our level of pain and fatigue. If we feel crappy, we want to find out how to get better...it's natural to feel that way. When we feel better we slip into the ignorance is bliss mode more often. I'm all for all of us being &quot;ignorant&quot; for a good, long time! - Lisa

I hear what you're saying. At one point I felt like RA was consuming my life so much that I stopped taking some of my medication. BIG mistake. In order for me to maintain some sort of normalcy, i plan for it. Evaluate how you spend your day, not just your working day, but what other activities to you spend your time on and are there activities that you can add to your day without it wiping you out. It may even be to schedule time for a movie or coffee with a friend or whatever activity makes sense for you. I hope you find a balance. By the way, how did your rheumatologist vist go?

It's sure nice to know I'm not crazy. Thank you all for your stories and understanding.

LivingInSpiteofRA, My Dr. apt yesterday went better than I expected. My flare appears to have gone down for the time being (not sure I trust it to stay that way yet, it's only been like this for 2 weeks) so I don't have to go off of my meds and try something new.

Now I just have to get to my eye Dr. apt next week and find out if the Plaquenil is affecting my eyes. If he say's &quot;no&quot; then I'll be doing my best to avoid another flare for as long as possible.
Thanks for asking.

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